Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to introduce
a government-backed insurance scheme to provide cover for music
festivals this summer against COVID-related cancellations.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport () (Con)
My Lords, the Government recognise the importance of the UK’s
live music sector. More than £21 million from the Culture
Recovery Fund has supported over 100 music festivals to ensure
that they survive and can put on events in future. We are aware
of the sector’s concern about securing indemnity insurance, and
we continue to assess all available options to provide further
support as the public health context evolves.
(CB)
My Lords, does the Minister agree that providing Covid insurance
would help various groups of people—the creative sector, of
course, and local communities, but, perhaps most importantly, the
festival-going public, including many young people? The
Government have provided indemnity for film and TV. They urgently
need to do so for live events and save our festivals this summer.
(Con)
The Government are extremely keen that the festival-going public
should have a chance to enjoy live events as quickly as possible,
and that is what is behind our events research programme, but we
need to be absolutely confident that any scheme would result in
an increase in activity.
(Con) [V]
My Lords, I declare my interest as chairman of the Royal College
of Music. My noble friend will be aware that many students rely
on performances outside term time for income, which is vital to
support their studies, and have therefore been particularly hard
hit in this last year. Will she take the plight of students and
recent graduates specifically into account when further
considering this issue in order to ensure that the income of
young performers is protected as far as possible this summer?
(Con)
My noble friend is of course right that that pipeline of
performers is critical. I will share his concerns with colleagues
in the department.
(CB) [V]
My Lords, I share the suggestion from my noble friend for help to
jumpstart the insurance for live events. Is the Minister able to
update us at all on bilateral talks involving work permits and
visas? That is another aspect of a musician’s life that, combined
with Covid, has created a very difficult position, as the
Minister knows.
(Con)
I can reassure the noble Lord that we are in conversations with
individual member states focusing particularly on improving
guidance regarding entry and work permit regulations. We are also
looking carefully at proposals for a new export office to support
this sector.
(Lab) [V]
My Lords, the Budget extended the film and television insurance
scheme to its present level of £2.8 billion, and it has supported
200 productions and saved an estimated 24,000 jobs. It therefore
seems a little strange to recall that only yesterday the Minister
said that the Government
“are trying to understand the market failure and how it impacts
on different forms of live events.”—[Official Report, 26/4/21;
col. 2074.]
She did not repeat that when she responded to the Question today.
Will she explain what specific issues the department does not
understand about this process?
(Con)
I am extremely happy to clarify those points. There are a number
of interlocking issues—the noble Lord smiles, but it is true—into
which we are carrying out reviews. I refer to the events research
programme to understand the impact on public health as a result
of those events; our review on social distancing; our review on
certification and, which is connected, the global travel review.
(LD)
My Lords, as the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, pointed out, the
sector has already been impacted by the failure of the Brexit
negotiations to protect the creative industries. In the
Minister’s reply today, she did not say no—she said perhaps. Is
it not time to stop squirming? We are now into April and this
sector needs a decision.
(Con)
We are not squirming and we are not hesitating. We are
progressing as fast as we can, but the noble Lord would be the
first to criticise the Government if we opened too early and the
public health crisis re-emerged.
(Lab) [V]
My Lords, the Minister is of course right that we should be
continually guided by data, but slippage in the Government’s
Covid road map will have a significant effect and impact this
summer on staging music and other cultural festivals as well as
large-scale sporting events, such as July’s British Grand Prix at
Silverstone. I remind the Minister that the Chancellor said that
when it came to economic support he would do whatever it takes,
so why are the Government dragging their feet on matters such as
insurance, leaving promoters and fans alike in limbo and unable
to plan ahead?
(Con)
I can only repeat that the Government are not dragging their
feet. We have research pilots running in April and May that
include an outdoor music festival in Sefton, and these will feed
into decisions on step 4 of the road map in June. The evidence
that we are gathering is aligned with the dates for the road map,
but we cannot anticipate what that evidence will show.
(Con)
My Lords, I want to follow on from the question asked by the
noble Lord, Lord Bassam, in relation to sporting events in
general rather than high-profile ones. There are many
lower-profile sporting events that require the booking of
hundreds of hotel rooms and other facilities. If they cannot get
insurance then those sporting events cannot take place, and they
are planned literally years ahead.
(Con)
My noble friend is right that the issue of indemnity cover cuts
across a range of sectors. The Government have supported the
sports sector both by allowing events to take place behind closed
doors and through the £600 million sport survival fund.
(LD) [V]
My Lords, in response to my Question yesterday, as the noble
Lord, Lord Stevenson mentioned, the Minister said that the
Government were
“aware of the wider concerns around indemnity for live events and
are trying to understand the market failure and how it impacts on
different forms of live events.”—[Official Report, 26/4/21; col.
2074.]
Is it not simple? Does not this admission of market failure mean
that intervention can be justified and should be acted upon?
(Con)
I am sure the noble Baroness would agree that before taking that
decision we need to understand the impact on infection rates of
removing or amending social distancing, not using masks, the role
of certification and the impact of allowing global travel, which
all have a bearing on the viability of these events.
(Con)
My Lords, while I appreciate what my noble friend is seeking to
do, will she accept that musicians face a triple whammy? First,
if the festivals cannot be insured, they cannot perform at them;
secondly, many of them are self-employed but do not benefit from
the provisions that are designed to help the self-employed; and,
thirdly, the visa problem compounds these others.
(Con)
The Government have been very clear in acknowledging the multiple
challenges that my noble friend has outlined. That is why we have
announced major funding for the sector, particularly through the
Culture Recovery Fund and, most recently, in the expansion of the
self-employed income support scheme. We continue to work closely
with the sector to ensure that we can respond as needed.
(Con)
[V]
I declare my interest as a theatre producer and as chair of a
leading live entertainment marketing company. The theatre
sector—certainly the whole of the commercial sector—depends to a
large extent on angels investing. Angels have always invested on
the basis that a show can get business interruption insurance. I
do not understand, and I wonder whether the Minister could
explain, why the Government cannot prevail on insurance companies
to do what their business is, which is to insure people. There
may be an additional cost, but it seems to me that the problem
lies with the insurance companies, not the Government.
(Con)
I do not think this is about pointing a finger in one direction
or another. We are trying to find a solution to this issue and
are working with all the key stakeholders to do so.
